I love the Tour of Flanders. This one-day Classic race, the second in
the prestigious World Cup series, always attracts some of the biggest
names in racing, and the challenging course with its cobbled climbs
always tests the riders to the limit. As with the other Classics, the
Tour of Flanders follows almost exactly the same course each year,
which means that we can look forward to the roster of
melodious-sounding hills: the Koppenberg, the Bosberg, the Molenberg,
the Tenbosse, the Muur de Grammond...

2004's edition promises a showdown of titans, as the "Lion of
Flanders," three-time winner Johann Museeuw, attempts to add an
unprecedented fourth win to his palmares. It's Museeuw's very last
chance, as the celebrated rider is set to retire at the end of this
season. Last
year's winner, Peter Van Petegem, is also eager to snatch a
record-equaling third win, and it's safe to
say that the Tour of Flanders is prime Van Petegem
territory. However, the Tour of Flanders is a difficult and chancy
race that offers many chances for other riders to come to the fore,
and 2004's field includes many stars who'd love to stand on the top
step of the Tour of Flanders podium: Italian champion Paulo Bettini,
who is a teammate of Museeuw but more than capable of coming to the
fore if the Lion falters; U.S. Postal's George Hincapie, coming off a
win in the Three Days of De Panne; World Champion Igor Astarloa;
veteran T-Mobile rider Steffen Wesemann; and many others.

The two-disc, four-hour coverage of the 2004 Tour of Flanders starts
with a nice introductory segment, about ten minutes long, in which
co-commentator Paul Sherwen interviews some of the riders prior to
the race start. It's a great reminder of who's in the race and who
hopes to do well; it's also nice to get a glimpse of the riders up
close and get a sense of what they're like off the bike as well as on
it.

Unfortunately, the race gets off to a bit of a slow start in terms of
action. A 26-man break gets off the front early on, and stays put,
just out of reach of a not-very-ambitious peloton, for quite a long
while. In fact, the first hour and a half (or even the first two
hours) of the race is uneventful; even Sherwen and Liggett end up
repeating things along the lines of "Well, the action will
really get started when the riders reach the Oude Kwaremont..."
Realistically speaking, unless you are a total hardcore cycling fan,
you might as well pop in the first DVD for the pre-race interviews
and then hop straight to the second DVD, which puts the riders at
about 70 km from the finish with events just starting to look
interesting. (I'm a pretty devoted fan myself, but even I found the
first two hours to be fairly dull.)

Fortunately, once we hit the halfway point, things rapidly shape up
into a very interesting race. We get a leading group who manage to
stay away much longer than anticipated, a chasing group with some
solid names in it, and a peloton that seems at times to be too busy
shadowboxing, with the big names eyeing
each other, to pay attention to what could turn out to be a
race-winning set of breaks. While the race kept a more or less steady
state for the first half of the race, at this point the climbs start
coming thick and fast, and as the riders are more tired at this
point, we start seeing some dramatic effects. Weaker riders drop off
the back, stronger riders maneuver to the front, and previously solid
groups of riders splinter into fragmented groups who chase to merge
with others and work together in the strong wind that prevails on
this day.

The final hour in particular is very exciting. On the one hand, we
have a race of attrition, as the leading riders fall back one by one;
but on the other hand, we also have repeated chase groups forming and
re-forming as riders give it all they've got to break away from the
peloton's infighting and make it to the
front. Tactics also play a critical role in what happens here: when
and how a rider makes his move is just as important as his strength
and speed.

Watching the 2004 Tour of Flanders, I'm reminded of why I love the
Classics. It's all about the race: there's no holding back here, no
saving one's strength for another day, because the winner is the
first man over the finish line, period. The Flanders course is
perfectly suited to give us an exciting finish: the frequent short,
steep climbs offer many chances for important moves, and even on the
flat sections there are plenty of opportunities for important action
to occur. The payoff is that the racing is both serious and exciting,
giving us things like the smart tactical maneuvers of QuickStep, or
the full-out attacking strength of Ludo Dierckxsens, who puts in such
an amazing turn in the race that you'll be desperately cheering him
on.

The
DVD

The 2004 Tour of Flanders is a two-disc set, attractively packaged in
a slim plastic keepcase. It's in the Region 0, NTSC format.

Video

The image here is definitely not as sharp and clear as in other
recent WCP releases. That's to say that it's about what I'd expect
from a television broadcast... but I've gotten used to seeing a
better-quality image on these DVDs. The print is clean, but fairly
blurry; while close-up shots look fine, whenever the camera pulls
away, the picture gets quite soft, so that it's hard to see
individual faces of the riders in the group, or spot the team jerseys
from the overhead shots. Overall, I'll say that it's satisfactory
(and still certainly better than VHS) but viewers will likely wish
for the crisp image we got in earlier editions.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is nicely handled here, with the commentary
of Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen always completely clear, crisp, and
understandable. The sound balance between the commentary and the
"race ambiance" noise, such as the whirring bikes, shouting
crowds, and beeping cars, is handled very well, so that we get a
definite sense of being present at the race without any interference
with the commentary.

Extras

The menus are clear and easy to navigate, with the chapter breaks
logically arranged to coincide with major climbs (and labeled
accordingly). In a nice touch, the DVD case is clear, displaying the
start list, with all the teams and their riders, on the back of the
cover. I'd rather have had the course route and profiles of the
climbs (maybe in future editions?) but in any case it's a useful
reference. There are no other special features.

Final
thoughts

While
the first half of the race is uneventful, if you're a fan of cycle
racing it's definitely worth picking up the 2004 Tour of Flanders for
the exciting two hours of racing in the second half of this great
Classic race. The Tour of Flanders is one of my favorite Classics,
and the 2004 edition gets a solid "recommended" rating, and
belongs in the collection of any fan of the Classics. If you've never
seen the Tour of Flanders before, it's a great race for viewers who
are new to cycle racing, but I'll suggest starting with the
phenomenal 2002
and 2003
editions before you pick up the 2004 edition. Recommended.